Back in my fundamentalist religious past, I was taught that tarot was evil. I have to admit, I was drawn to it even back then. I didn't want to delve into anything evil so I stayed away. It wasn't until I left religion that I bought my first card deck. It was an oracle deck with images of goddesses on it. I was still afraid of straight-up tarot, but oracle seemed safe enough.
It turns out that it worked great for me! It seemed like magic. I had a hard time trusting that it worked as well as it did, but every time I tried it, it kept working and working. I would be so excited when I drew the card about the Arts because I love writing and art. I would be so excited when I drew the Prosperity card or the Healing card because it helped give me comfort as I went through my faith transition. I still had some healing to do around tarot itself, though.
About a year after I started using oracle cards, I got the deck The Good Tarot by Colette Baron-Reid. It seemed to have a positive energy and felt safer to me than the traditional tarot I was taught was evil. As soon as I started using the deck I loved it, and then I finally felt safe to learn tarot.
Click below to see the Good Tarot Deck:
Since then I have acquired dozens of tarot and oracle decks and I love them all. What I found spending those years and years learning and crafting and perfecting my relationship to tarot is that it's not, nor has it ever been about the cards, it's about the one reading the cards. Tarot is you.
I often use the psychologist ink blots to teach my clients about tarot. The ink blots aren't actually pictures of horses or faces or hourglasses, they are just random marks on a page. What makes the meaning is the way you perceive them. Same with the cards. They are a tool to spark your inner knowing. All the answers we need are inside of us already. We know. We are the knowledge. We are the wisdom. It is just unconscious, and tarot and oracle cards are a great tool for bringing the unconscious to the conscious. The cards are just cards, but the feelings, and impressions and instincts that come to you when you see the individual images, that's is your inner knowing. It can take time to learn how to hone the craft of reading cards, but the starting place is to know that reading tarot and oracle isn't reading tarot and oracle, it is reading some deep knowing inside yourself. Even reading for others is the same. It is reading their energy using the tools of the cards.
I have such a love for tarot and oracle that I have started making my own decks, and I have so many ideas for more. I no longer think it is evil because I know now that tarot and oracle are neutral. If you use them for good, then they are good, if you use them for evil, then they are evil. I use them for good, with healing and empowerment always in mind. I learned how to use them from inside of myself and my own intuition and from helpful guides like the Biddy Tarot site. There are so many great resources. There are no right or wrong ones, just ones that resonate with you or don't. Click below for my favorite tarot learning site:
I now think what was evil wasn't the cards, but was the church forbidding these tools, because these tools are about your own personal power and inner authority, the biggest threats to oppressive systems. Yes, to them the cards might seem evil because perhaps you use the cards to help you on your healing journey to find your own inner strength and personal power and heal your wounding. The result might be that you leave religion for your own personal path where you are your own authority. I can see why fundamentalism might discourage anything that keeps a person's authority on the inside instead of them instead of on the outside from the pulpits.
Click below for an article from Healthline about the how tarot can help your mental health, and ways to avoid pitfalls of it:
If you have been curious to learn tarot or oracle, this is your confirmation that you are safe. It is about you. You get to decide the intent in which you read the cards. You get to decide how they make you feel. You get to decide what you want the readings to do for you. It is your journey and just for you. You are the tarot cards. So have fun and happy reading!
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